When you take refuge in the fact that the Avengers destroy Thanos and hence all the evil in the world, it is not too much to assume that a bird (Garuda pakshi) drawn on the back can eat up the serpent that causes rashes of the nerve aka Shingles. Well, I’d say anything to get away from the pain. This week I could have gotten a remedy for everyone who got on my nerves if only there was one, a remedy I mean. And talking of beliefs, a bomb hoax was issued in Karnataka over 15 schools, and parents were curtly called to school asking for hasty pickups, like working-hands-on Mom just about wrapping up their weekly chores within the stipulated period with precisely 27 things to do, cutting short them all to believe a bomb hoax. The question of belief is a deeply personal one, belief in God for instance, and when to believe for instance it is all deeply personal.
In fact superstitions are also deeply personal, don’t start something on Tuesday said my client in question, dont cut nails I shouted out to be husband on a Friday, don’t sneeze before stepping out said the house staff, just the one who said the rashes are the appearance of a Devi, specially on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. There is an Indonesian company that even issues to it’s staff a calendar of all the good days in a month, neatly marked, so there are days for financial transactions going out and days for financial transactions coming in. And to beat all the frowners, frowning upon this, that company is still hugely profitable, striking gold, I mean oil in the unlikeliest of locations, blame it on luck. Then there are beliefs in the ancient science of Vaastu. Always caught in the storm of household fights, I literally fell out of my chair when a Vaastu expert told me that a Pooja Room in the South-West means fights amongst family members for no reason. When it tallies with reality I guess you end up having a believer. Of course this Vaastu guy was different from the one I mentioned before who said it doesn’t apply at all in some cases of angles.
So that brings me back to the question of belief. At this juncture, while I believe in the universe and chant ‘I am so lucky everything works out for me’, courtesy Laura Galebe, the tiktok Influencer who started the Lucky Girl syndrome, I remember how in America everything is awesome and the future is amazing (or so is told, recited rather again and again) till the day is actually awesome and the future truly amazing, the country has been manifesting in time immemorial! The fact that ‘all is well’ is also a very bollywood-inspired manifestation, there is just so much belief in the world out there. What do we believe and who do we believe me wonders. All I can say after putting much thought is that it is satisfying to believe in something for sure, it could be a higher power, the universe, an idol, a chant, or just simply oneself. Believe in the good in the betterment, or even pain as a portal to a reward if its a reward that motivates you. While watching the supermen’s tales or even the magnificence of the son of Vayu the wind God- Hanuman, the belief trumps it all.
Vedasri Siddamsetty 